Sunday, 28 March 2010

This month's Fresh from the oven Challenge was hosted by Jo from Jo's Kitchen. She chose Kringel (an Estonian sweet or savoury bread) that has recently been featured in the Hairy Biker's programme, Mum's Know Best. Thank you Jo for hosting this months challenge.It's been a while since I updated the blog and even longer since I took part in a challenge so hopefully this challenge will see me back to regular blogging and taking part in challenges. I ended up baking this bread today! as it was the only totally free day I have had at home in ages. I also baked a wholemeal loaf for this weeks lunch. It has been so long since I baked I had to get my bread book out to check on all the quantities which I used to know by heart!

Since there is only the two of us to eat this sweet bread I halved the recipe and we also decided to make it a little healthier and omit the chocolate topping (partly as we had none in the house). The recipe was simple and relatively quick and the end result was like nothing I have baked before. I do think that the chocolate topping would have improved it. I used dried yeast and just halved the quantity. There were also a few comments from members that 1tsp salt was missing from the recipe and the original recipe stated 'flour' and we decided it meant white bread flour. I have added these additions to the recipe below but have heard the some members struggled with this recipe as they stuck to the original recipe which perhaps has a few flaws. I couldn't make my mind up from the recipe instructions for platting the dough in which direction to cut the dough in half. I went for length wise which made the platting easier but the bread didn't turn out like the picture!

Kringel(adapted from The Hairy Bikers, mums know best)

Ingredients (Makes 1 Loaf)

Dough

40g fresh yeast

1tbsp sugar

250ml milk, lukewarm

2 egg yolks

50g butter, melted

1tsp salt

600-700g white bread flour

Filing

100g butter, softened

3 handfuls of raisins

10 tsp sugar

Topping

150g dark chocolate (at least 50% cocoa solids)

75g butter

Method

Mix the yeast and sugar in a bowl. Add the lukewarm milk and egg yolks, then mix in the flour, salt and melted butter and knead well. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200°c/Gas 6. Dust your work surface with flour. Take the dough out of the bow, knock it back and roll out to a thickness of 1cm. Spread the softened butter evenly over the rolled sheet of pastry, then sprinkle with raisins and finally sugar.

Roll up the dough like a swiss roll and cut it in half with a sharp knife. Starting from the uncut end, plait the dough, lifting each half over the other in turn. Finally, shape the plaited bread into a B shape and transfer to a buttered baking tray. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden.

In the meantime, prepare the chocolate topping by melting the chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water. Once out of the oven, let the bread cool down a bit, place on a serving plate and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

3 comments:

Looks great Claire. I too only made my bread today and also omitted the chocolate topping in an attempt to make it a little less calorie laden. DOn't know why I bothered now though as Hubby and I have pretty much managed to eat the whole lot throughout the course of the day lol

Looks delicious, interested to note you halved the recipe - I didn't manage to make this months due to time and was also a little scared by butter content and a weakness for freshly baked bread! Will try halving and tell myself its healthier ;-)

About Me

My philosophy on food is that 90% of the time the food I cook should be simple, nutritious and on a budget. But I believe there is always room in a balance diet for life's little indulgences! I also enjoy trying out recipes/ideas that are a bit more complex on weekends and days off, as well as stocking my freezer with home cooked/baked food to make cooking that bit easier. This is my food notebook/diary.
I welcome all comments, so feel free to comment on any post even if has been posted a while back.
Enjoy!